This section provides background information related to the present disclosure of a multi-functional, convertible, underwater raft titled “Liquid Flyer Flexi Underwater Raft”—AKA “Liquid Flyer”—for use by one or more people for the purposes of: recreation, relaxation, aquatic exercise, physical therapies, life saving and a variety of original active and inactive meditations done in water, as prescribed in the book authored by Liquid Flyer's inventor, titled Meditations in Water. Liquid Flyer Flexi Underwater Raft can be safely used in all bodies of water: bath tubs, hot tubs, pools, lakes, rivers and oceans. The multi-functional convertible Liquid Flyer allows one or more people to float fully submerged in the water with only head and feet or face and toes above water, while it can also facilitate floating above water as well. When employed as a meditation raft, as prescribed in Meditations in Water, this—companion to the book—convertible underwater raft is particularly helpful for aging or achy human bodies and those with physical impairments, because sitting to meditate on a firm surface with the force of gravity is often uncomfortable or impossible for some people to do painlessly, while meditating in water supported by LIQUID FLYER—because gravity is replaced by the buoyancy of the water—meditating in water is pain-free, refreshing and comfortable; words not usually associated with meditation. LIQUID FLYER is lightweight, compact, easily transported and stored, and totally toss-able for life saving purposes, while if presents seven advantages over the standard life saving ring buoy normally used for water rescue: 1) costs less, 2) lighter weight, 3) needs less storage space, 4) can float ‘unconscious’ rescue victims until rescued—not requiring them to hold on, 5) can float people above or below water as needed for exposure safety, 6) safer to toss because it cannot render rescue victims unconscious if they are accidentally hit in the head or neck by the tossed Liquid Flyer, while a ring buoy could render someone unconscious if hit by it, and 7) Liquid Flyer is versatile, not just employed for life saving, so more desirable to have on private boats, cruise ships and yachts.
The Liquid Flyer can be used as: a meditation aid; water toy; a lifesaving device; a floatation device for patients in rehabilitation therapy; and for pain relief for burn survivors by floating them in a liquid environment, under medically approved conditions. It is lightweight, compact, toss-able, and easily transported and stored.
I accomplish this by assembling the Liquid Flyer through our identified structural components, without mattress-style slabs or inflatable parts—which can be easily punctured and/or lose buoyancy. U.S. Pat. No. 2,068,134 (Cite1) and U.S. Pat. No. 2,939,158 (Cite2) are examples of water mattresses composed of flexible air-impermeable materials like vinyl plastic. My invention eliminates the concerns and risks of under- and over-inflation in these designs.
This invention falls into the categories of: water flotation devices; water toys (I have watched children play extensively in pools with a prototype of Liquid Flyer); devices for comfortable meditations (in water); and life-saving devices. The USPTO Class definition for Class 441 buoys, rafts, and aquatic devices includes “other aquatic devices.” It is noted that rafts, Subclass 35, are buoyant devices “free floating, of shallow draft and little free board,” and usually have platforms or floors for supporting the user. Our Liquid Flyer has no floor or platform and, therefore, falls outside the strict definition of raft under this classification, but buoyancy and its use in water still validate Class 441.
Under Class 441, Subclass 129—body supporting buoyant device—may be appropriate for the Liquid Flyer because it is a recreational and a generally slow-moving device, although it is designed for use by more than one person at a time (not just one). Alternatively, Subclass 136 might be used, which is provided for aquatic devices not specifically provided for elsewhere in the schedule. The author has reviewed patents falling under Class D21—games, toys and sports goods—Subclass 803, for swimming and devices to aid propulsion or floating the body. As a floating toy for children, it could be classified as D21/803.
I see similar art in design patent D655,364S (Cite3) from Mar. 6, 2012, U.S. Classification D21/805, for a buoyant assistive device in which there appears to be a curved foam member, with a strap running through it, used for support around the torso. Another design patent from Apr. 4, 2000, is D422,331 (Cite4), wherein a floatation device is created from what appears to be flexible foam members, in a shape similar to but not actually comprising a figure eight, under U.S. classification D21/803. Neither of these devices offers the convertibility of the Liquid Flyer.
The search for prior art reveals the drawings of U.S. Pat. No. 5,571,036 (Cite5) from Nov. 5, 1996, wherein buoyant flexible foam tubes are used in a “U” shape along with mesh or other fabric means to hold the “U” shape and provide floatation support of the head and chest allowing the body to be only partially submerged. That device is described as a “Flexible Tube Floating Sling” where a person can lie supine or prone, but their lower body half remains under water, and their head remains up on the sling. That patent provides improved stability over a flat floating mattress, because it provides a lower center of gravity to help keep a body stable on the sling. Unlike the Liquid Flyer, the body is still pressed against a platform.
The Liquid Flyer Flexi Underwater Raft is the first convertible underwater raft to allow more than one person to float together with their entire bodies horizontally under the water while their heads and feet—or just faces and toes—stay above water. No other raft or flotation device allows more than one person to do this, nor are their any floatation devices with the same capacity for the many functions that Liquid Flyer's convertible characteristic can perform. I cite U.S. Pat. No. 5,176,554 (Cite 6) dated Jan. 5, 1993, for a buoyant aquatic recliner that allows only one body to be submerged under the water in differing reclining positions. In that art, the described device comprises a torso supporting section, a thigh supporting section, and a lower leg supporting section. It can be adjusted to achieve a preferred body position by releasable attachment methodology. Each supporting section is comprised of a “pair of elongated substantially rigid and inelastic side members,” which could make the device heavier and harder to manage, as the user attempts to “adjust his position in the water by adjusting, preferably in unison, the location of each flotation member along the sides of each body supporting section.” In said device, adding or subtracting floatation members to the sides of the “body supporting section” could also adjust buoyancy to accommodate differing body weights. Liquid Flyer Flexi Underwater Raft improves on that device with the availability of noodle technology coupled with my original end caps, while accommodating more than one person when desired.
Additionally, the Liquid Flyer is convertible and can be employed and deployed in a variety of configurations for the purposes of all prior mentioned uses. The Liquid Flyer can be used in all of the following configurations for multiple functions: rectangle (FIGS. 1, 13, 20) for floating one or more people horizontally; circle or hexagon (FIG. 15) can float two adults and one child or as many as six people with only their feet up on Liquid Flyer; triangle (FIGS. 8-9) to vertically support or toss—for life saving—one to three people with heads upright and legs below water surface, or to be used as a swimming tube substitute; a figure-8 (FIGS. 12 & 16) when a carabiner clip is used to hook it together in the middle, which can also float a person above water by placing the clipped together sides junction below the body rather than over the person's body; open armchair (FIGS. 10-11)—‘U’ shaped folded in half—with three members resting on top of three members; in the closed-arm-chair (FIG. 21)—as a square—allowing user to keep ears above water, also used for one person to be supported for relaxation, meditation or life saving purposes where the rescue victim need not remain conscious until rescued; in a two by two straight line of three doubled-up members (FIG. 14) it is used for recreation, exercise, or can float up to three people for lifesaving.
The Liquid Flyer is inherently buoyant because the foam noodles it employs for its soft foam members are manufactured from unique closed-cell, extruded polyethylene foam that floats and resists water absorption. Constructed from the world's largest-selling water toy, swimming pool noodles, Liquid Flyer removes the discomfort some people experience when their bodies are resting on inflatable vinyl plastic floatation products which can be hot to the touch on sunny days and stick to the skin rather than allow the skin to move friction free across the floatation device. The Liquid Flyer's foam noodle members are easy on the skin, durable, and will not puncture. While water noodles are seen available for use at many swimming pool facilities, public and private (such as the YMCA), a person must hold onto a single noodle for support. Liquid Flyer improves this art by allowing one and more individuals to rest in a lying supine position with only head and feet or ankles resting on the Liquid Flyer, so that even if that individual falls asleep, s/he is completely supported and will not fall out or roll off. This invention offers another alternative to improving health, while it is the companion purchase for the inventor's original book—authored by the inventor—a totally new healing arts form known as Meditations in Water. 